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k-50 reverse auger

the subject came up last week about getting a k-50 5/8'' sectional cable through a 1.5'' cast iron/ durham trap. so today i had just that issue.

1950's house with original shower drain 1.5'' durham trap. k-39 and 5/16'' cable just kept bouncing off in the 3' range. i was through the trap, but couldn't get through the stoppage

so i either go on the roof with the k-50, or try to get past the trap and attack the stoppage. tried the straight auger, but between the male/ female coupling, the cable was just too stiff to pass the trap. so i did like a few others have/ saysflushable and cut off the first few inches of the male coupling. heated the end cable and bent it out to form the auger cutter. the hook allowed the cable to grab as long as i running in reverse rotation.

just like it's big brother the k-60 and my secret weapon reverse auger, the k-50 reverse auger did exactly what it was suppose to do.
it navigated the trap and cleared the stoppage. for kicks i added another section and continued through the trap with the male/ female connection.

the real trick was the fact that the cable had passed the trap and running in reverse not only corkscrews the cable to act as a cutter, but it self feeds into the drain pulling out was also easy as i pulled by hand and when the double coupling hit the trap, i put in in forward rotation to auto feed through the trap. pulling out a ponytail of hair

as always pictures are included

so once again the sectional cables can do everything.

rick.

5/8'' sectional cable with the end cut off and a slight hook that i heated and bent out. this is a reverse auger as the wind grabs in the reverse motor direction.

2 sections of 5/8'' cable through the 1.5'' durham trap.

part of the hair stoppage that affected the shower and double lav sinks.

Comment

I gave 2 k-50's away after I bought my k-60..Excellent idea Rick .I have a spare cable in storage.Guess what I am doing with that? Thanks for the pictures.I am going to make 2 (1) in 5/8" and (1) in 7/8" ..Then bring it on !

''Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" Benjamin Franklin

Comment

don't know why everyone is scared of running in reverse. i've never broken a sectional cable either forward or reverse. the reverse auger is my #1 go to cable when i don't have full access or nothing else will clear the drain.

the auger is basically 7' 3'' long and therefore doesn't put strees on the welded coupling. same with the 7/8'' cable except that is 14'6''. we've all had issues with the factory 6'' long auger breaking at the weld. the reverse auger is bullet proof and time tested on over 100 drains from 1.5''-4''.

not telling you to sacrifice a new cable, but a cable that might have a bad coupler is a good choice.

rick.

phoebe it is

Comment

i don't use 5/8" cable. use a k-38. but if i did i would have no problem using a new cable. rick's right, i run k-60 in reverse all the time. i have been toying with a basket of c-8 cable. breid...................

Comment

You could theoretically unwind the cable in a jam. Still see zero reason to go through the process to create a reverse auger.

Still reading though.

J.C.

jc. the reason why the reverse auger is different than the factory auger is many.

first off the wire gauge on the cable is much heavier than of a factory auger.

the cable is either a 7' 6'' 5/8'' made into a 7' 2'' auger, with the lack of a coupling male/ female at the leading edge, this gets through the tight turns and traps. after the initial cable, the couplings will typically follow.

the factory auger has a tendency to break off at the weld the reverse auger is time tested and proven on some of my toughest stoppages. never broke a cable or reverse auger. broke many factory augers

the 7/8'' reverse auger is 14' 6'' roughly. same basic principal as the 5/8''.

and another bonus is when the cable is running in reverse, the cable autofeeds into the drain. when run forward rotation, it retrieves.

plus you can put a good bend/ 45 on the end and have it scrape larger pipe through a smaller opening. it will spring back to it's form once the pipe enlarges.